Musical gloves



Feb. 12, 1957 J. BRYCE MUSICAL GLOVES 2 Shets-Sheet 1 Filed July 1, 1955 Fu l:

RE mm mp m5 5 E W J H TTORNEY Feb. 12, 19 57 J. BRYCE MUSICAL GLOVES Filed July 1, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVE'NTOK JHMEs BRYcE HTTORNEY United States Patent MUSICAL GLOVES James Bryce, Harrison, N. J

Application July 1, 19.55, SerialNo. 519,398

' 2 Claims. c1. 84-375 This invention relates to musical instruments and more particularly to musical gloves.

A prime object of the present invention is to provide a glove to be worn on the hand having air vibrated reed type musical instruments constituting the finger tips thereof.

Another object of the invention is to provide a pair of hand gloves having musical instruments constituting the finger tips thereof through which special tonal qualities are obtained by merely blowing the breath through the instruments, said instruments having a range of tones extending through an octave or more without the necessity of using finger holes or keys.

A further object of the invention is to provide a musical glove that is simple in construction and which can be manufactured and sold at a reasonable cost.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the description thereof to follow taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which-- Figure l is a front elevational view of a pair of gloves, a right hand glove and a left hand glove, embodying my invention in position on the hands, with the fingers slightly spaced.

Figure 2 is a similar view but showing the fingers bent bringing the musical instruments into the same plane, in close operative formation for sliding over and along the lips of the player.

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken along the plane of the line 33 of Figure 4.

Figure 4 is an enlarged sectional view taken along the plane of the line 4-4 of Figure 1.

Figure 5 is a detail view of a clamping ring.

Referring to the drawings in detail, the invention contemplates the use of a pair of conventional type gloves, a right hand glove l and a left hand glove 2 which may be made of fabric or leather or other suitable material. Each glove has the usual hand portion 3, finger stalls 4, 5, 6 and 7 and thumb stall 8, and a portion 9 adapted to conformably fit about the wrist of the wearer and to be fastened thereon by a snap button 18.

According to the present invention, the tip ends of the finger stalls and thumb stalls are cut away as indicated at 11 to form abbreviated stalls, and in place of such cut away finger tips musical instruments indicated generally at 12 are provided. The musical instruments 12 are similar in construction and each comprises a tubular or hollow cylindrical body 13 preferably formed of plastic or other suitable rigid material. The body is open at both ends and is tapered. The narrow end of the body is slanted as indicated at 14 and is flattened somewhat to form an oval lippiece or mouthpiece 15, the wider end being truly cylindrical as indicated at 16.

A rectangular-shaped reed block 17 of similar material is inserted through the wider end of the body 13 and is slid along the inner surface of a wall section of the body 13 to the opening in the narrow end of the body, the leading end of the reed block being slanted to con- 2,780,954 Patented Feb. 12,

form to the slanting narrow end of the body. The slanting end of the reed block partially blocks the opening at the narrow end of the body leaving an air passage 18 between it and the opposed wall section of the body. The other end of the reed block is formed with an integrally formed radially extending flange which extends across the interior of the body 13 constituting a partition wall 19. The partition wall, body 13 and reed block 17 form an air chamber 20 in the narrow end of the body communicating with the air passage 18. The partition wall and body together form a thimble-shaped socket 21 on the other wider end of the body 13. Reed block i7 is formed with an elongated narrow opening forming an air passage 22 communicating with the air chamber 26 and communicating with an elongated slot 23 in the wall of the body 13 communicating with the atmosphere.

An elongated flat reed 24 of metal is positioned over the air passage 22 in the reed block 17, with one end fastened to the reed block adjacent one end edge of the air passage by a rivet 25. The distal end and marginal edges of the reed are spaced from the walls defining the associated passage 22 whereby the reed is free to vibrate within the associated passage without touching such walls. Also the reed may be inclined somewhat so that the distal end thereof may be spaced from the face of the reed block as shown in Figure 4.

The musical instrument and finger stall are joined by enclosing the wider socketed end 21 of the body 13 of the instrument inside the abbreviated end 11 of the finger stall and fastening the overlapping portion of the finger stall to the socketed end of the body by spaced split metal rings 26 which are provided with finger pieces 27 to facilitate manipulation of the rings. The outer surface of the socketed end of the body 13 is preferably formed with spaced annular peripheral grooves 28 to provide seats for the rings in order to more securely fasten the parts.

Each instrument is provided with a single reed 24, but the reeds in the difi'erent instruments are of difierent lengths and arrangements so as to vibrate at different frequencies in order to produce different tones or notes upon the blowing of air therethrough. The different notes produced by the instruments are indicated by indicia 29 on the instruments and corresponding notes are indicated on the finger and thumb stalls by indicia 30 in order to identify the proper stalls for the respective musical instruments in case the instruments become displaced. It is proposed that the reeds produce the natural tones or notes of the musical scale as well as sharps and flats. Accordingly, the instruments on the forefinger 7 of each glove is provided with a reed producing the natural note C and the stalls on said fingers are suitably labelled C. Similarly, the right hand glove 1 is provided with a B reed on the index finger 6, with an A reed on the next finger 5, and with a G reed on the small finger 4. The thumb 8 of the right hand has a reed producing C sharp. The left hand glove 2 is provided with a D reed on its index finger 6, an E reed on the next finger 5, and an F reed on the small finger 4. The left hand thumb 8 is provided with an F sharp reed.

Thus the eight fingers of the gloves represent the scale of C, and the thumb on the left hand glove is tuned at F sharp permitting the player to play on the scale of G major. The thumb on the right hand glove is tuned at C sharp, and this note coupled with F sharp brings in the scale of D major.

In using the gloves, the finger tips of the fingers of the wearer are placed in the socketed ends 21 of the musical instruments. In actual practice, the portion of the musical instrument protruding beyond the end edge ice 11 of the finger stall will measure approximately onehalf inch so as not to protrude too conspicuously to the audience. The finger and thumb stalls are preferably bent inwardly at the finger joints of the hands and aligned in the same plane in close formation as shown in Figure 2. By blowing a blast of air through the instruments with the proper manipulation of the tongue across the lip piece or mouth piece, the desired tonal qualities and accidentals will be produced.

While I have shown and described the preferred embodiment of my invention it will be understood that changes in details might be made without departing from the principle or scope of the invention and I desire to be limited only by the state of the prior art and the appended claims.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by United States Letters Patent is:

1. A musical instrument comprising a pair of gloves constituting a right hand glove and a left hand glove, said gloves each having a hand portion and finger stalls, said finger stalls having musical instruments fastened at the tip ends of said stalls, said instruments each in- 4 cluding a casing having a passage for air therethrough and a single reed vibrated by air flowing through said passage to produce a distinct tone different from the other tones.

2. A musical instrument comprising a glove having a hand portion and finger stalls, said finger stalls having musical instruments fastened at the tip ends of said stalls, said instruments each including a casing having a passage for air therethrough and a single reed vibrated by air flowing through said passage to produce a distinct tone different from the other tones.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,885,843 

